Older persons have been found repeatedly to be less effective at solving problems than younger persons. The overall goal of the research is to explore the possibility that this is due to differences in basic thought processes such as reasoning from available evidence or planning and executing strategies for gaining information. Specific goals for the coming year are to study the effects of irrelevant information on the acquisition and utilization of evidence in problem solving, to evaluate the contribution of recasting abstract reasoning problems in concrete forms, and to assess the effectiveness of training at problem solving.